I am fascinated by debt: the advance of cash today against the mere promise of payment in the future. A promise that depends crucially on trust and knowing who the borrower is. For that, financial institutions rely mainly on credit bureaus. But not every country has a perfectly functioning credit bureau, in which case access to credit suffers.

Businesses have been using online customer service for a while. It is a popular channel because is fast and easy to use―it requires minimal effort from the customer, which increases the likelihood of completing the task that they are up to complete.